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A former bikie associate who allegedly revealed the suppressed identity of a high-profile Queensland man accused of cheating on his wife has been charged with disobeying a court order.
Shane Cuthbert was arrested in Cairns on Friday and released on Saturday night after he was ordered to suspend his social media accounts and surrender electronic devices including his phone.
Cuthbert, a community activist and regular political candidate, had expected to be charged with contempt after publishing on Facebook the name of the man whose identity is suppressed.
He is due to face Cairns Magistrates Court on Tuesday when he intends to ask for a copy of transcripts covering discussion about a non-publication order from previous proceedings.
Daily Mail has seen a search warrant served on Cuthbert which alleges that between May 28 and June 12 he ‘disobeyed a lawful order issued by the Cairns Magistrates Court’.
That order was ‘a temporary non-publication order suppressing the names of a female complainant, a male defendant and a high-profile man referred to in a Cairns Court proceedings’.
A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman told Daily Mail a 35-year-old man from Bungalow had been charged with one count of ‘disobedience to lawful order issued by statutory authority’.
A Cairns magistrate last week extended a gag order preventing media from naming a well-known married man whose extramarital affair in 2017 led to an alleged extortion attempt.
Shane Cuthbert, who allegedly revealed the suppressed identity of a high-profile Queensland man accused of cheating on his wife, has been charged with disobeying a court order
The legal bid to unmask the identity of the high-profile man who had an extramarital affair linked to an extortion case goes on
It was revealed in court the alleged extorter had threatened not just to expose the man’s name, but to contact his wife and place of employment.
The accused’s evidence of the affair featured screenshots from the woman’s computer.
Magistrate Gelma Meoli ruled the suppression order must also continue over the names of the accused extorter and the female complainant who had the affair with the married man.
The female complainant has been previously married and has children.
Ms Meoli said there was a need for ‘victims to feel safe to come forward and report these allegations to police’.
‘I acknowledge that the married man… has a high public profile,’ Ms Meoli said on June 8.
‘This order is based on the application of any person, whether they be high-profile or not.
‘The orders are not to be made to protect any party from embarrassment or reputational consequences… reputational harm or other collateral disadvantages.
‘By not suppressing the married man’s name, it offers the complainant no protection and enables the respondent to achieve publicly the very nature of the charge.’
Media flocked to Cairns courthouse, with the prospect that a man described by a magistrate as having ‘a high public profile’ and accused of an affair might be unmasked
Cairns Magistrates Court was packed with media and lawyers for the legal bid to expose the identity of the prominent man, known as MM.
Police prosecutor Maynard Marcum submitted the court should be closed.
Barrister Andrew O’Brien KC, representing media, said to close the court would be ‘drastic, inappropriate’ and that no proper argument had been presented by prosecutors to do so.
Mr Marcum, appearing to refer to Cuthbert’s presence in court, said that while media would follow suppression orders, ‘We know very plainly one of the persons present here today will not’.
The magistrate then closed the court to the public, with media allowed to remain.
Mr O’Brien argued that MM should not be granted anonymity simply to protect him from embarrassment.
‘Orders are not intended to shield any party from embarrassment, reputational harm or other collateral disadvantages,’ he said.
Mr O’Brien described the alleged affair between MM and a Cairns woman as a ‘guilty secret’, arguing the extortion case should not be subject to the same legal constraints as one of blackmail.
Cuthbert was arrested in Cairns on Friday and released on Saturday night after being forced to remove his social media accounts and surrender electronic devices including his phone
He explained that blackmail involved two parties sharing a guilty secret, whereas ‘an extortion case is different – it’s one person exposing another’s guilty secrets’.
‘In an extortion case, it’s the complainant the court seeks to protect,’ Mr O’Brien said. ‘That’s not to say the married man wouldn’t have a remedy – he hasn’t sought an injunction from the Supreme Court.’
Mr O’Brien added: ‘It is unfathomable that [MM] isn’t aware of these proceedings.’
Bridie Billic, representing the man accused of carrying out the alleged extortion, told Ms Meoli she objected to an affidavit which ‘delved into hearsay evidence’ about the ‘distress of the complainant’.
Ms Meoli delivered her judgment extending the suppression order, stressing the importance of victims feeling safe to come forward and report allegations to police.
She also noted: ‘I acknowledge that the married man has a high public profile.’
Ms Meoli said the threat of exposing the married man struck at the very heart of the matter.
‘Not suppressing the married man’s name offers the complainant no protection and enables the respondent to achieve publicly the exact nature of the alleged offence,’ she said.
‘The exception exists to ensure the proper administration of justice and to allow victims of this type of offence to feel safe.’
The case was adjourned until July 28.
Lawyers representing the media and the accused extortionist then applied for a judicial review in the Cairns Supreme Court which was mentioned behind closed doors on June 10 and adjourned until July 31.
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